Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm so glad you've joined me for today's lesson.

I think you're going to find this one really useful in improving your writing skills and I'll be here to help you the whole way through.

Let's make a step.

Today's lesson is called New Subordinating Conjunctions and Relative Pronouns, and it comes from my unit called using five sentence types.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to identify subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns and select the ones that are appropriate to use in different sentence contexts.

Now, you might already know that subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns are words that really help us to start complex sentences.

And complex sentences really help us to make our texts flow together beautifully.

So today, we're gonna try and expand the range of those words that we can use in order to make our writing even more varied and interesting.

Let's make a start.

Here are our key words for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Subordinating conjunction, adverbial clause, relative pronoun, and relative clause.

Well done, now, a subordinating conjunction is a word that starts an adverbial clause.

And adverbial clause is a type of subordinate clause that starts with a subordinating conjunction.

A relative pronoun is a word that starts a relative clause, and a relative clause is a type of subordinate clause that starts with a relative pronoun.

Let's look at our lesson outline.

We're going to start off by learning some new subordinating conjunctions, and then we'll move on to looking at some new relative pronouns we can use.

So an adverbial clause is a type of subordinate clause that starts with a subordinating conjunction.

For example, "As we raced around the track." and "Because we all rely on it." are both a verbal clauses.

The first one starts with a subordinate conjunction as and the second with a subordinating conjunction because.

So each of these, because it's a type of subordinate clause, must be joined to a main clause to make sense.

Any main clause joined to a subordinate clause makes a complex sentence.

We're joining an adverbial clause to our main clause.

So we call this an adverbial complex sentence.

For example, "As we raced around the track, "we jostled for first position." Here, we've got our adverbial clause, starting with the subordinating conjunction followed by our main clause.

And notice when the adverbial clause comes first, we follow it with a comma.

We could also say, "The environment must be protected "because we all rely on it." Here, the adverbial clause comes second starting with that subordinating conjunction because, and then we've got the main clause, "The environment must be protected." at the start.

We know where the adverbial clause begins because we look for where the subordinating conjunction is.

So I know this one begins at the word because which is our subordinating conjunction.

We must know two main types of conjunction.

Co-ordinating conjunctions are but, or, and and.

And these all join two main clauses to make a compound sentence.

Then we've got our subordinating conjunctions.

There are lots of these: before, when, and because, as, after, and while are all ones you might know already and there are many more in English and we're going to learn a few more today.

And all of these subordinating conjunctions start adverbial clauses, a type of subordinate clause.

So where is the adverbial clause in each of these adverbial complex sentences? Try and use the subordinating conjunction to help you find it.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, let's take a look.

In a, I see when as my subordinating conjunction.

So the adverbial clause must be, "When Sophia won the competition." In b, I see because the subordinating conjunction.

So the adverbial clause must be, "Because I had interrupted Miss O'Neill." And in c, I see before that connected a subordinating conjunction.

So the adverbial clause must be, "Before he became such a nuisance." Really good work.

Now, let's try and identify the conjunction in each sentence and decide if it's a subordinating conjunction or a co-ordinating conjunction.

Now, remember, there are only three co-ordinating conjunctions, but there are quite a few different subordinating conjunctions.

So see if you can spot them and decide which type of conjunction are we looking at.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, okay, in a, I see but which is a co-ordinating conjunction.

And notice how it has a comma in front of it.

In b, I see when, which is a subordinating conjunction starting the adverbial clause.

In c, I see and, a co-ordinating conjunction.

I can see it's joining two main clauses.

"Mr. Martinez asked me to enter the competition." is a main clause, and "I was happy to oblige." is a main clause.

In d, I can see because which is a subordinating conjunction starting the adverbial clause because this test is very important.

Great job if you spotted those.

Now, you probably already know quite a few subordinating conjunctions.

We're going to try and learn a few more today because there are many in the English language we can use to express different ideas.

For example, we could learn once and since.

Let's look at how these two subordinating conjunctions work.

We could say, "Once I have your parent's signature, "you'll be able to come on the trip." We could say, "I will let you go outside "once the temperature has increased." We can see this is showing us something about the order that things are going to happen in.

You can do this once this has happened.

Once this has happened, you can do this.

Let's see how since works.

We could say, "Since we are not able to go outside, "let's take the opportunity to practise our times tables." Or we could say, "He's become a lot less aggressive "since he started drawing more." So let's see if you can choose between once and since as a subordinating conjunction to go in each gap in each adverbial complex sentences.

Read the sentence and decide whether once or since should fill the gap.

Pause the video and have a try.

Okay, let's take a look.

In a, I would say, "You can go outside "once you apologise for your behaviour." You have to apologise first, then you can go out.

For b, I would say, "I have seen a lot more of Aisha "since she became my next-door neighbour." For c, "Once you have taken the temperature "of the mixture, record the result in your table." And for d, "Since my dad turned 40, "he's become a lot more grumpy." Really well done if you got this.

Now, I'm going to show you now two subordinating conjunctions that help us to show a contrast, so a difference between two things.

We could use although and even though.

Notice how even though is two words.

It's still one subordinating conjunction.

Let's see how they work in sentences.

We could write, "Although I worked non-stop all lesson, "I still didn't finish my story." I could say, "There was no pain at all in my muscle "although I had badly bruised it." Look how we've got a contrast shown in that first sentence, "I worked non-stop, but I still didn't finish." We've got a contrast set up there and although helps us to show that contrast.

The same in the second sentence, "There's no pain even though I'm badly bruised." So we're showing that contrast using although as our subordinating conjunction.

Now, let's do it with even though.

I could say, "Even though I had a stomachache, "Miss O'Neill made me do PE." Or I could say, "Mr. Martinez is my favourite teacher "even though he frequently makes us do extra work." So again, we're setting up a contrast here.

"I've got my stomachache, but I'm still doing PE.

"Mr. Martinez is my favourite, "but he makes us do extra work." A contrast is shown using these subordinating conjunctions.

So how might we finish each of these adverbial complex sentences using the subordinating conjunctions I've given you? I've said, "She completed some excellent work even though." and "Although I wasn't very hungry." Now, we know these two show contrast.

So you're going to have to think of something that contrasts to finish the sentence.

Pause the video and have a think how you could complete these two.

Okay, I am gonna show you some of my ideas.

Yours may be different, but hopefully, you've managed to show a contrast using these subordinating conjunctions.

I've said, "She completed to make some work "even though Andeep was distracting her, "even though the task was very difficult, "even though she said it was boring." So look at that contrast, "She said it was boring, "but she still completed the excellent work." What about this one? "Although I wasn't very hungry, "I ate several sandwiches.

"Although I wasn't very hungry, "I still didn't want to share my food with Sam." Look at the contrast again here.

"I wasn't hungry, but I still ate those sandwiches." We've got a difference there.

Great job if you managed to do something similar.

Now, there are many other subordinating conjunctions that we might see as well.

So I'm going to show you a few now in sentences and they'll be highlighted in purple.

We could use if.

"If you embarrass me, I'm going to be very cross." We could use unless.

"Unless you do sufficient work, "you'll be staying in at play." Then we've got so that.

"He is peeling the vegetables "so that they cook more quickly." We've got until.

"Lucas decided to wait "until the awkward situation was over." And we've got even if.

"I'll continue to talk even if you interrupt me." So we know these are subordinating conjunctions because they're starting an adverbial clause containing a verb.

And you can see the adverbial clauses here.

So for instance, in the last one, we've got, "Even if you interrupt me." with that verb interrupt.

I wonder if you can identify the subordinating conjunction in each sentence here and the adverbial clause it starts.

Pause the video and have a go.

Great, so let's take a look.

So a, we've got unless starting this adverbial clause, "Unless you stop being so aggressive." In b, we've got until as a subordinating conjunction starting, "Until I see an improvement." In c, we've got even if starting, "Even if we ask the committee very politely." In d, we've got if starting the adverbial clause, "If you are given the opportunity." Great work for getting those.

Now, a word is only acting as a subordinating conjunction if we use it to start an adverbial clause.

And remember, all clauses contain a verb.

So an adverbial clause must also contain a verb.

Here are some examples where we've done that correctly.

"I've known her since she was a baby." Here, I've got the adverbial clause, since she was a baby, containing that verb was.

Here's another good example.

"Until she came here, she went to a school in Bristol." I've got until as my subordinating conjunction and I've got my adverbial clause, "Until she came here." which contains the verb came.

So in both of these cases, since and until, our subordinating conjunctions.

They start in adverbial clause which contains a verb.

Now, here are two examples where we've used the same words, but not as subordinating conjunctions.

I wanna be really clear, that's not bad.

It just isn't using a subordinating conjunction.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here, we've got, "I've known her since June." Now, since June is not an adverbial clause because it doesn't contain a verb.

In this one, I've written, "Until last week, she went to another school." Until last week is not an adverbial clause because it doesn't contain a verb.

So in these cases, we've got no verb.

So we've not gotten adverbial clause.

So in these two sentences, until and since, are not acting as subordinating conjunction.

Those two sentences are correct.

There's nothing wrong with writing sentences like that, but we just need to be aware that when we do that, we are not creating that adverbial clause and these words are not acting as subordinating conjunctions in those sentences.

So I wonder if you can tick all the sentences that use a subordinating conjunction.

So you need to be looking for which sentences contain adverbial clause starting with a subordinating conjunction and containing a verb.

Pause the video and see if you can work it out.

Okay, let's take a look.

In a, we've got, "Since I was born." So here, we've got a verb.

So since must be acting here as a subordinating conjunction starting that adverbial clause.

In b, we've got, "Since 2021." Now, there's no verb there.

So since it's not acting as a subordinating conjunction.

In c, we've got, "Until that incident." We've got no verb there.

So no, until it's not acting as a subordinating conjunction in that sentence.

And in d, we've got, "Until she did that." Did is a verb, so that's an adverbial clause, which means until is acting as a subordinating conjunction.

Really well done if you work that out.

Let's do our first task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some sentences which include some of our new subordinating conjunctions.

I want you to complete each sentence using that subordinating conjunction to start a new adverbial clause.

So you need to make sure that that adverbial clause contains a verb, otherwise it's not a clause.

So here are your sentences.

Now, look at that first one.

"Jacob has been my friend since." It'd be really easy, wouldn't it, to write, "Jacob has been my friend since 2020." But that would not be an adverbial clause because it does not contain a verb.

So in this instance, I want you to use a verb in your adverbial clauses.

Pause the video and see if you can have a go.

Okay, let's take a look at some example sentences you might have written.

Now, mine will be different to yours.

But hopefully, you've used these new subordinating conjunctions correctly.

Here's what I wrote.

"I wrote Jacob has been my friend "since I was in nursery." Notice that verb was.

In b, I've got, "You can join the football team "once you start doing well in training." For c, "I like this restaurant "even though it's very noisy." It's contains our verb there.

It is is a being verb.

For d, I've got, "Unless you put in more effort, "you will never win the competition." For e, "Even if we finish all our work, "Miss O'Neill never lets us go to play early." And for f, "Although her shoes fell off, "Sam still somehow managed to finish the race." And for g, "Until they're gone, "you don't really appreciate your friends." And we've got there gone there.

There is the conjunction.

They are another being verb.

So hopefully, you've managed to use those new subordinating conjunctions to make these adverbial complex sentences which contain an adverbial clause and a main clause.

Really good job if you've managed it.

Okay, we've done an amazing job of learning some new subordinating conjunctions.

We're now going to move to look at some new relative pronouns.

So a relative clause comes after a noun or noun phrase to tell us more about it.

And it always starts with a relative pronoun.

Now, you might know two relative pronouns already.

We know who, and here's an example.

"Mr. Martinez, who was born in Spain, "has lived in Britain for 20 years." So there's that relative clause, who was born in Spain, and it follows that noun phrase, Mr. Martinez to tell us more about him.

Then we've got which.

For example, "Spanish, which is my native language, "is very beautiful to listen to." Here, we've got that relative clause, which is my native language, starting with that relative pronoun which and following the noun Spanish to tell us more about it.

And these are both relative complex sentences.

They're made up of a main clause and a relative clause.

And here, the relative clause has interrupted that main clause and it's got commas on either side of it to demarcate to separate it from the main clause.

So for instance, in this sentence, the main clause is, "Spanish is very beautiful to listen to." is being interrupted by that relative clause, "Which is my native language." And when that happens, we put commas either side of the relative clause to demarcate it from that main clause.

Now, relative clauses are always placed after the noun or the noun phrase they give more information about, but they do not always interrupt the main clause that we just saw.

They can come at the end of a sentence too, so long as the after a noun or a noun phrase.

Here are some examples.

"My native language is Spanish, "which is very beautiful to listen to." Here, I've got the relative clauses, which is very beautiful to listen to, after the word Spanish, which is a noun, but it's not in the middle of a sentence now.

It's at the end.

Here's another example.

"In trudged an exhausted soldier, "who had just left the battlefield." So here, the relative clause comes after the noun soldier at the end of the sentence.

Now, here, we've got a comma before it.

But obviously, a full stop at the end because it's the end of a sentence.

We wouldn't use a comma now.

And the last one, "We joined the long queue, "which snaked around the building." I've got the relative clause, which snaked around the building, beginning with that relative pronoun which.

And this time, it follows the noun queue.

So notice how each time the relative clause must follow a noun or noun phrase? But now, we see it can go at the end of a sentence as well.

So where's the relative clause in each of these sentences? And which noun does it give us more information about? Pause the video, find those relative clauses, and find the nouns and noun phrases that they link to, have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

In the first one, we've got the relative clause, which lit up the whole sky, which tells us more about the noun phrase, the lightning.

In b, we've got, "Who loves a bargain." which tells us about Lucas, the noun.

In c, we've got, "Which is only open to under 11s." which tells us about the competition and noun phrase.

And then in d, we've got, "Who was causing a nuisance." which tells us about that noun, Aisha.

Really good job if you spotted all those.

Now, we've talked about two relative pronouns so far, who and which, which are great for starting relative clauses, but there are some other relative pronouns we might see as well.

And a really useful one is whose.

And we use this relative pronoun to give more detail about something belonging to the noun or the noun phrase.

For example, "Miss O'Neill, "whose birthday is the 24th of September, "is not a big fan of Christmas." "My mum, whose first name is Samira, "kept her own surname when she married Dad." "I looked at the head teacher, "whose nostrils were flaring dangerously." And "Jun threw the ball to Jacob, "whose hands flailed wildly towards it." So this relative pronoun whose is really useful for showing us things belonging to that noun or noun phrase that comes before the relative clause.

Now, some very familiar words can sometimes act as relative pronouns too.

So we can use where and when as relative pronouns in certain situations.

So these words will act as relative pronouns when they come after a noun or a noun phrase to start a relative clause.

For example, "The 9th of May, "when the festival starts, is my birthday." "Please make sure you're here by 9:00 AM, "when the coach will depart." I could say, "Our local factory, "where they make motorbikes, is closing down." Or I could say, "Our capital city is London, "where the government is based." And here, we can see the relative clause could be removed and the sentence would still make sense.

For example, "The 9th of May is my birthday." I can see I can remove that relative clause and a sentence still makes sense because in this case, a main clause has been interrupted by a relative clause.

But we can see, it's also possible to use these relative clauses at the end of sentences like we see in the last example.

So can you decide whether to use whose, when, or where as the relative pronoun in each of these relative clauses? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's share our ideas.

In a, I could say, "Last night, "when it was time for bed, "I read for two hours under the covers." For b, I would say, "Liverpool, "where my mum was born, has two beautiful cathedrals." For c, I could say, "Mr. Martinez, "whose first name is Jorge, "lives a long way from school." And for d, "My favourite day of the year "will always be 8th of March, "when my baby sister was born." Really well done for getting those.

Now, so far we've seen relative clauses that can be removed and the sentence will still make sense.

But there are some occasions when the sentence would no longer have the correct meaning if the relative clause was removed.

It might still make sense, but it might not have the meaning that we need it to have.

Let's look at some examples.

"The person who helped me the most was Miss O'Neill." "The village where I born will never leave my memory." "The moment when the sun rises is my favourite." "The book which you lent me is fantastic." Here, the relative clauses are essential to the sentence and it can't be removed without changing the meaning to something very different.

Let me show you with the first one.

We've got, "The person who helped me most was Ms. O'Neill." If I remove that relative clause, it says, "The person was Ms. O'Neill." Well, that has a completely different meaning.

It's not wrong.

That could be a complete sentence, but it doesn't have the same meaning as it would have with the relative clause here.

So if I try that with the second one, "The village will never leave my memory." Again, it makes sense, but it doesn't have the meaning I wanted it to.

We really need to say, "Where I was born." there.

And for the third one, if we remove that relative clause, it would say, "The moment is my favourite." That doesn't really work at all, does it? And for the last one, it would say, "The book is fantastic." Now, that's a complete sentence, but it doesn't have the same meaning at all as saying, "The book which you lent me is fantastic." That's really essential to the meaning.

Now, when we have these relative clauses, which were essential to the meaning of the sentence, which if we remove them, would make the sentence change dramatically, we don't use commas.

So you can see I haven't used commas around any of these relative clauses because each of them is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

So that's a really important rule to remember.

If the relative clause is essential, we don't have the commas around it like we normally would.

Now, there's another relative pronoun that which often creates these kind of relative clauses that are essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Let's look at some examples.

"The car that I just bought has already broken down." "The restaurant that Sam's parents own is excellent." "The muscle that I strained is in my shoulder." "The committee that is responsible "for this meets on Tuesday." So in these cases, without these relative clauses, sentences would have a really different meaning.

So the relative clauses here are essential to keep that meaning clear.

For example, if we look at the first example, "The car that I just bought has already broken down." It's very different to say the car has already broken down because maybe we're trying to show that it's surprising that a car that's just been bought has already broken down.

So this relative clause is really essential to that meaning.

In the third example, it'd be strange to say, "The muscle is in my shoulder." It's really important to know that it's the muscle that I strained.

So here, these relative clauses are essential to the meaning of the sentence.

And therefore, we don't use commas around them.

So can you decide to use when, where, that, or who as the relative pronoun in each of these relative clauses? And in these cases, the relative clauses are essential to the sentence.

So we haven't used commas around them.

Pause the video and decide which relative pronoun is the best for each sentence.

Okay, let's have a look.

In a, I would say, "The person who gave me this bruise "had better not harass me again." It would be strange to say, "The person had better not harass me again." So this relative clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence, so we haven't got commas.

In b, we would say, "The queue that we joined turned out to be for a different performance." In c, I'd say, "The country where I was born "has French as its official language." Again, it would be strange to say, "The country has French as its official language." It's essential to know that we mean the country where I was born.

So we wouldn't use commas there because it's an essential relative clause.

For d, we would say, "The day when I first arrived "at this school will always be stuck in my memory." We couldn't say, "The day will always be stuck in my memory." and keep the same meaning.

We have to know that it's the day when I first arrived.

It's an essential relative clause so we don't have comments around it.

Really great job for getting those relative pronouns right.

Now, when we're speaking or writing informally or casually, we sometimes don't use the relative pronoun at all.

It's emitted, which means left out.

Here's an example with a relative pronoun in.

"The leisure centre that we usually go to has closed." Now, that makes sense.

But when we're speaking informally, we probably remove that relative pronoun and we just say, "The leisure centre we usually go to has closed." We've omitted the relative pronoun.

And here, it still makes sense because we're being informal.

Now, this only works if there's a person after the relative pronoun.

So my example, we've got we, a pronoun representing a person.

So that one works.

Let me show you another good example.

With a relative pronoun, we could say, "The competition that I entered has closed." There's my relative pronoun that and I've got I, a person, a pronoun after it.

So I could omit that relative pronoun.

I could say, "The competition I entered has closed." And that works well.

Here's another example, which doesn't work so well.

"The wave that hit me was five metres tall." I've got my relative pronoun that.

Now, can I omit that relative pronoun? Hit after it is not a person, it's a verb.

So this would say, "The wave hit me was five metres tall." We can't say that, it doesn't work.

For that one, we'd have to keep the relative pronoun.

We'd have to say, "The wave that hit me "was five metres tall." So let's try reading some sentences.

These sentences all have a relative pronoun in them.

I'd like you to try and read these sentences aloud more informally by omitting or leaving out that relative pronoun, just to see how it sounds.

Pause the video and have a try at reading these.

Okay, let's see how they sound if we omitted the relative pronoun.

A would say, "A restaurant we often go to has closed." B would say, "The vehicle my cousin "drives most is a quad bike." And C would say, "The vegetable "I despise most is a cauliflower." So we were able to omit those relative pronouns because we're speaking casually or informally.

Really well done.

Okay, let's try our final task for this lesson.

I've put some of our relative pronouns at the bottom of the page here, and I want you to choose the most appropriate relative pronoun to complete each of our sentences.

Here are your sentences with a gap for your relative pronoun.

Pause the video and choose the best relative pronoun for each of those gaps, good luck.

Okay, let's take a look at which relative pronouns might work in these gaps.

I've put, "The last day of summer term, "when we get to play party games, "is my favourite of the year." "There is a strong, iron gate on the field "where the bulls are kept." "Mr. Martinez spoke to Laura, "whose work was not of sufficient quality." "It was so fun on Tuesday "when Miss O'Neill read its riddles." "The bruise that I got playing cricket "has still not healed." "Jun, whose stomach was aching, sat out of PE." "The room where the paints are kept is securely locked." So hopefully, you've managed to choose some appropriate relative pronouns for those sentences.

Really well done if so.

Okay, let's summarise our learning for this lesson.

We learned that subordinating conjunction is a word that starts an adverbial clause, which can be joined to a main clause to create an adverbial complex sentence.

We learned that there are many different subordinating conjunctions each with their own purpose.

We learned that a relative pronoun is a word that starts a relative clause, which can be joined to a main clause to create a relative complex sentence.

And we learned that the relative clause can be in the middle or at the end of the sentence, but it must follow the noun or the noun phrase it tells us more about.

I really hope you've enjoyed today's lesson.

Hopefully, you've learned some new relative pronouns and subordinating conjunctions that you're going to be able to apply to your writing to expand the variety that you can show to your reader.

Really well done.

And I hope to see you again in the future lesson.